Shadow can hold more than darkness
by Chat-leena
Summary: Two strangers arrive in the enchanted forest : one of them will need the help of Regina in order to avenge the second. But at what price. While The Evil Queen and her new partner in crime discover how much they are alike, something seems to be going on in the kingdom. (This is not SwanQueen. I hope you'll enjoy it, this is my first fanfiction. Don't forget to review!)
1. Strangers in The Enchanted Forest

There was a loud 'swoosh' and we were both sucked into a whirled cloud of emerald smoke. Seconds later, we were thrown on the soil of a dark forest. The trees were higher than any tree I had seen before but somehow, we could see the sky. There was properly nothing around us other than those gigantic trees.

'Mina?! Are you alright?' John had stood up on his feet way faster than me.

I couldn't believe how protective his still was. Even after it has been proven to him that I definitely didn't need any kind of protection.

'I'm good, John. Let's not waste time. We have to find Victor and go back. Abe was pretty clear about it : we need him or Lucy is done for. ' I said firmly.

'Mina... Watch out, the sun seems to be rising already.'

Without another word, I adjusted my cloak so none of my skin would be exposed to sunlight and we initiated our journey through this new land in order to find our friend as soon as possible. We had walked miles before I finally heard the sound of a human voice.

'Follow me' I told my husband. 'Stay behind me, okay?' He rolled his eyes in resignation.

'Alright... Go ahead. But please slow down a little. I cannot keep up with you at this rate Love.'

I nodded and concentrated to determine the origin of the voices I was hearing. When we were close enough for me to smell them, I stopped.

'It is going to look a little suspicious.'

'What is, Love?' John asked.

'The cloak', I added, facing his look of incomprehension. 'You may be use to it, but others may find my hiding under a thick dark cloak a little bit suspicious.'

'Oh. Yes. You're right. I should go first and say something about you being allergic to the Sun. It wouldn't be so much of lie, would it?'

I shook my head and we silently agreed that I would be ready to act if something went wrong.

We finally arrived on the side of a road where a bunch of armed soldiers where resting with their horses. They had lit a fire and were drinking some really stinky alcohol. The smell of it was troubling my senses. Luckily, I could still hear them and see them clearly enough. I stuck right behind John when he emerged from the bush we were hiding in.

'Ahem... Good Morning... sirs.' John was always too polite. 'I don't mean to disturb you in the middle of your breakfast...'

'But you do.'

All the soldiers had stopped their conversations, and were looking at us. There were about a dozen of them, a bit too much for me to handle on my own. I hoped that John would do great with the talking, as he usually did.

'I... I-I am utterly sorry. I was just wondering if you could indicate us the fastest way to the nearest city. You see, my wife is sick and...'

'And you couldn't wait until the end of our breakfast to ask us that because...?'

I couldn't believe how rude and gratuitously mean they were. And still, my John would not stop being polite and kind.

'Oh I may wait until you're finished if you prefer.'

'It's too late for that mate. Is that your wife under the cloak?'

'Indeed sir, but...'

'Show your face woman.' I didn't move a bit but every single muscle in body was tense to maximum. 'Don't make me repeat myself!' the soldier aggressively yelled. I still wouldn't move and John tried the talking thing one last time.

'She is allergic to the Sun sir, she can't take the cloak off...'

'I don't care if she only has one eyes of if she's covered in furuncles! I want her to show her face!'

He then rushed toward me and pulled the hood of the cloak off my head. He was definitely not prepared for what happened next. For a second, he stood there, amazed by the wave of flaming red hair which had been freed from the hood. That second was enough for me to jump on him and rip off his throat. The taste of blood made me angrier. And hungrier. I finished the guy simply by breaking his neck and stood up on my feet.

'She a monster!' one of the remaining soldier shouted.

'Everybody get her! Kill her and bring her head to the king!'

They had no idea what they now had to deal with. Without mentioning my over protective husband who took his pistol out of his jacket.

'Don't even think about it', John said calmly, but with a spark of 'don't mess with me buddy' that I had always found attractive. He was aiming at the man who had shouted the order and as soon as the soldier moved forward, brandishing his sword toward me, John shot him. Right between the eyes. The man dropped dead on the spot. The others were stunned, petrified but they looked like they had encountered stranger things before. Also, one of them shot an arrow that merely touched me and it was enough for them to regain courage. They ran all together in our direction. Yelling and shouting, that they were going to kill us both.

'Be careful John', I simply said before jumping in the melee.

I fought like a devil. Well, I kind of was one. I killed half of them in less than five minutes, ripping off jaws, breaking arms and ribs alike, tearing limbs off. But suddenly, John screamed my name.

'MINA! WATCH OUT!'

I ducked just in time to avoid another arrow. 'Thank you Darli...' I could not believe it. By running toward me to warn me about the arrow, he had put himself in its very way. The arrow was now stuck in his chest and he was slowly falling down, bleeding out to a certain death.

'JOHN NO!' I yelled in despair. I got rid of the remaining soldiers, pushing them away, and ran toward my agonising husband. I knelt next to him and hold him tight.

'John...' I whispered. 'John, stay with me...'

The woods had become unnaturally silent. All I could hear was John's inexistent heartbeat. All I could smell was his blood running all over me. All I could see was his eyes, his glazed eyes.

'It's too late for you to save me Mina. Not enough blood left in my body.' He coughed some blood and smiled at me. 'Find Victor and go save Lucy will you, Love?' I tried to smile but I couldn't. I succeeded to nod lightly. 'I will' I whispered painfully.

'I love you Mina...' He said to me gently.

'I love you too, Jonathan.'

But he couldn't hear me. He was already gone. A single tear rolled on my cheek as I knew relief was coming. One of the soldiers had shot an arrow and the precious wooden stick through my heart was all I needed to get rid of the pain for ever. I couldn't live without John beside me. And now I was relieved of this burden. Everything went black and all my senses just stopped working. I was at peace. Finally.

'I'm sorry Lucy...' I whispered in my last breath.


	2. Nothing for Nothing

'Oh! How peculiar!'

No... No... How could I be hearing anything? I was dead!

'Good Morning Dearie!'

'Wh... What have you done?' I stuttered.

'I saved your life it seems! But you're a little pale, Dearie. Are you going to be alright?'

I reached for my chest : the arrow had been removed. I opened my eyes and was blinded by the sun. I hissed at the bright star and then realised that it wasn't burning me. How could this be possible? I enjoyed for a second the soft heat of the morning sun on my skin. Then I remembered what had happened.

'No, you can't. I don't want to live. Not without him. Put it back!' I ordered.

But the strange man who was standing there at a certain distance giggled. Now that my eyes had gotten accustomed to the sunlight, I could see the man more clearly. He was quite short and slim, dressed in a dark red leather suit. He had dark wavy hair falling on his golden eyes. His skin also, was golden.

'What a shame', he said, 'that you don't want to live when you could get your vengeance!'

'What are you talking about? Who are you?'

I didn't want to show it but he had caught my curiosity. The simple mention of vengeance was apparently enough for me to be willing to live. The man seemed to notice my sudden change of mind as he slowly came closer. Measuring each step he made, he looked at me in the eyes and said.

'I'm sure you wouldn't want to waste an opportunity to find those who killed your loved one and erase them from existence, would you?'

I felt the weight of John in my arms. Even when dying, I had continued to hold my husband's corpse. I now had to let him go.

'You really are pale, though. May I do anything so you can feel better?'

I distrusted the man. But he was right, I was in bad shape. I needed some...'Blood' I answered. 'I need blood from a living person.'

'You should have said so earlier! Nothing's easier to provide!'

He snapped his fingers and a young fellow appeared right in front of me. He looked scared and lost. I was sorry for him but the idea of vengeance was slowly growing in my mind and I had to stay alive. Before the guy had time to realise where he was, I had jumped on him, planted my fangs into his carotid, and had started to drain him of his blood. The poor guy died in less than a minute.

'Who are you?' I repeated while standing up on my feet, leaving the fresh corpse right where it fell and wiping my mouth and chin. Now that I was feeling better, I recovered all my senses. I could now smell the scent of that wizard's blood and it was worse than I could have ever imagined. His scent was the very definition of rotting. I wouldn't bite him even if I was starving to death. However, something else caught my attention : his heartbeat was much faster than usual heartbeat and produced a much lower sound. He smiled largely and bowed as low as humanly possible as he answered : 'Rumplestilskin. At your service.'

He stood back up. 'My turn! WHAT are you?' He grinned.

'Rumplestilskin, alright. I'm... a vampire. I assume you don't have any in this land. 'He shook his head. 'How do you plan to help me?' I added.

His smile grew even larger, if it was possible.

'I can grant you almost anything you want. I am magic! But you don't seem to have heard of me, so I figure you don't have any in your land.'

'Indeed, we haven't. My land is run by science. And it's science which brought me here in order to find a friend. He came in this land some time ago and never came back.'

'Oooh I see. I may know someone who might know herself where you friend probably is.'

Said Rumplestilskin began to walk around me, as to examine me like one examines an animal in a cage before buying it. It didn't like it.

'May? Might? Probably? Why would I trust you?'I asked.

'Because you have no other choice.'

'Wait a minute', I interrupted. 'You said you could grant me almost anything. Could you bring my Jonathan back to life?'

'No. Can't do that. Magic doesn't allow it. But I believe you're friend experiments might!'

'You know about Victor's experiments?'

The wizard stopped his march around me and came closer. 'I know a lot of things, about a lot of things', he simply replied.

I stayed silent for a moment, thinking about John, about Victor, and about Lucy who was probably waiting for me to bring Victor back. I was lost in a land where I knew no one but that one friend I was here to find; a land where the sun wasn't burning my skin as it should be; a land where, if what that Rumplestilskin said was true, magic existed. It was a lot to process. And John wasn't here to help me through this anymore.

The wizard finally broke the silence. 'And I know you're desperate.'

He was right. Very right. But I was not a fool. If he was so insistent, it was probably that he wanted something from me.

'Okay. What do you want in return? For helping me find Victor?'

'Oh you're fast. So you're ready to make a deal, aren't you?'

'In my land you get nothing for nothing. I assume it's the same here.' He smiled again. But this time it was a mischievous grin. The kind of grin that says 'if only you knew'. And I wasn't sure I wanted to know.'So what do you want?'I repeated.

'I propose... that I lead you to the person who knows where your friend is, and in exchange, you don't kill the next person you feed onto.'

'Hum. Okay. It seems like a fair deal.' I nodded to show we had an agreement.

'Deal!' he shouted. 'So! Walk toward the sun, in about half a dozen miles, you'll smell the sweet scent of apples. Follow that scent and you'll find who you're looking for.'

He snapped his fingers again and disappeared.


	3. The Apple Queen and the Uncanny Heart

I couldn't believe I'd just made a deal with some weird imp I knew nothing about. Rumpil... Rumpelisk... What was his name already? I couldn't remember. But he seemed to be quite serious about the deal thing, so I decided I would rely on what he had said to me.

I headed south for two or three hours, struggling with the blinding sun. It had actually been quite some time since my last sunbath. But I was moving pretty fast. I kept walking in the same direction when suddenly, I smelt it. The apple fragrance reached my nose, very discrete at first, a very weak scent. Apparently, that wizard wasn't lying about that. I proceeded to locate the origin of the smell and followed it. I walked for another hour, the apple scent growing stronger and stronger. Eventually, I arrived to a hidden clearing. I managed my way through some bushes and stood there, amazed by my unexpected surroundings.

I was really surprised. Right before my eyes was a proper garden; an elegant and refined garden in the middle of the forest. All around me were flowers, mainly roses and tulips. All were red, different shades of red, and neatly organised. The place exuded peace. In the centre of the garden was a huge apple tree. It was the most wonderful tree I had seen in my life: thin straight light brown trunk, large bright green leaves and among them perfectly shaped blood-red apples.

I was so hypnotized I barely notice there was someone among the branches, picking up the apples in a wicker basket. But when I saw them, all the anger I had concealed in the last few hours came back rushing through my veins. I jumped out of the bushes I was still hiding in, and ran toward the tree, toward my vengeance. Halfway through, I stopped. The silhouette had disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke. A second later, I heard a 'swoosh' right behind me. I immediately turned around, only to feel a sharp pain in my chest, as if I had been stabbed. I looked down to see an arm, wrapped in black leather, deeply stuck in my body. At the end of the arm was a fierce-looking brunette. Long black curls flowing on her shoulder, dark make up underlining her chocolate eyes, sophisticated black leather dress highlighting her curves.

'Who are you?' she barked. 'How did you find this place?'

'Calm down sweetie' I said showing my fangs. 'What do you think you're doing with your hand in my chest?'

'If you don't answer me I will rip you heart... out.' She slightly opened her mouth in surprise and her eyes widened. It took her a minute to carry on. 'Your-your heart,' she stuttered. 'It's not beating.'

I shrugged. 'Maybe you could take back you hand. And then I will explain.'

I let out a cry of pain as she bluntly removed her hand.

"What the hell did y...' I stopped. She was staring at her hand. She was holding a small round greyish red object : my heart. 'How did you...?' I raised both my hands to my chest. I almost forgot the reason I was here. I noticed that she was as fascinated as I was by my heart between her fingers.

'How can you even be alive?' she muttered. 'Don't worry, it's temporary." she added before shoving her hand in my chest to put my heart back in place.

'What was that!?' I stepped back.

'What are you?'

'Could you stop answering my questions with more questions?'

'Could you show more respect to your Queen!?'

Silence fell. She was staring at me in disbelief, with her chin up and her arms crossed. The Queen? She was the reason Victor had left us. She had to know where he was, or at least the wizard said she did. But she seemed to have something completely different on her mind at the moment.

'What is it?' I asked in order to break that awkward silent.

'I'm letting you time to explain. Why isn't your heart beating?' she replied with this smug look of hers.

'I guess it's because I'm a vampire.'

'Vampire? What is that?' She frowned. 'Some kind of magical creature?'

'It's more like a disease. There's no magic in my land, only science.'

She raised a sarcastic eyebrow. 'You remind me of Doctor Frankenstein.'

'Victor! Do you know where he is? I'm here to bring him back to our land. He's needed there.'

She nodded almost imperceptibly and then shook her head. 'I haven't seen him in a while. But you should not rely on him so much: he's pretty worthless of a doctor.'

'What have you done to him?' I asked.

A mischievous lopsided smile appeared on her perfectly drawn mouth and a purple spark glowed in her chocolate eyes.

'Oh, I did nothing.' She retorted insisting on the "I".

She was starting to get on my nerves. I needed Victor to save Lucy. I had promised John that I would bring Victor back. I had to take a chance.

As she was still staring at me smugly, I looked right into her eyes and said:

'I'd like to make a deal with you.'

'Is that so?' she sneered.

'Yes. That Rumple wizard told me you could help.'

'RUMPLESTILSKIN ?! That imp led you here?!' she yelled angrily.

'Well, technically yes. He said you could help me.' I replied, trying to keep composure.

I was doing my best to stare her down but I had to admit, as strong and fierce as I was, the woman was pretty intimidating.

'Oh did he? How considerate of him...' I could literally see sarcasm leaking out of her body.

'Yes. He did.' I snapped. 'Can you help or not?'

'It depends on what you want from me.' She had suddenly gone all soft. Falsely soft since I could still hear her heart pounding in excitement and see the mean spark in her eyes.

'I...' I hesitated. Should I tell her about my oncoming vengeance or stick to the Victor matter? I decided that Victor was more urgent. 'I need you to find Victor and send him back to our land.'

'Send him back?' I had blurted those words out without really thinking of it. But now I could see that I had not chosen them very wisely. 'Aren't you planning to go back there with him?'

I knew the truth would come out eventually, therefore I told her about John.

'I need to take care of another matter before going back. I... They... My husband was killed the moment we set foot in this damned forest and I won't rest until I have eliminated whoever is responsible for it.' I didn't notice the tear rolling on my cheek. However, I noticed very well how the Queen's expression had changed: sorrow and pain were painted on her porcelain coloured face. But both feeling were gone as fast as they had come as she forced herself to regain full composure.

'Aaaw. Well, I'm sorry but I am quite busy with my own vengeance at the moment.'

'Please...' I pleaded. 'I'll help you with yours if you help me. As a payback.'

She pouted, surely thinking about how she could use me. I was certainly going to end up doing some dirty job to do but I needed her power. After a long minute of reflection, she finally broke the silence which was slowly settling down since even the birds had stopped tweeting.

'Will you let me study that strange heart of yours?'

'Er... yes. wh-why not?' I stuttered, quite taken aback by such a request.

'In that case, deal.' she simply stated. Then, after a whirling gesture of her hand, we were both caught in a thick cloud of purple smoke.


End file.
